OK, the Terra Grappler crowd hasn't chimed in yet so I'll give it a go. I am on my second set of Terra Grapplers and love them. They last a long time, and I used my first set for both summer and winter so I went through three or four Colorado winters with them and they performed great. They really don't make that much noise, but do get a little grumbly as you slow down and come to a stop.
In all honesty, I now use the second set as just my summer tires, and I have a set of Hankook RW-11's as my winter tires. I do have to say that the Hankook's don't have as aggressive of a tread pattern as the Grapplers and are a bit quieter.
As for the numbers on the tires, they indicate the size of the tire as an aspect ratio (why they can't just say the diameter and width is beyond me). I think it was described in a thread around here somewhere, but the short of it is the first number is the width of the tire (in millimeters at it's widest point), the second number is the height of the side wall given as a percentage of the tires width (65 would be 65% of the width of the tire), and the third number is the rim size. Confused yet? I am.
Good to see around, even if it is only for a quick hello. Hope nursing school isn't kicking your butt too hard, and hope you get a chance to make it back to Moab this year.
Happy tire hunting.
"The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong, it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair."
-Douglas Adams, Mostly Harmless